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Platinum Web Marketing ran an experiment and determined that customers who use pay-per-click (PPC) services, including Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Bing Ads, are at risk of being overcharged for fraudulent clicks on mobile devices. Now, Platinum Web Marketing is working with their clients so they are not on the hook for click fraud.

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB)April 07, 2014

Just when PPC advertisers thought click fraud wasn’t a problem anymore, a Platinum Web Marketing investigation suggests it may be hard to stop it on mobile devices.

A newly discovered potential loophole in the anti-fraud measures used by companies like Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Yahoo Search Marketing makes it possible for mobile users to click on PPC ads over and over again. Repetitive clicks, whether accidental or malicious, could potentially cost advertisers billions of dollars in fraudulent charges each year. Now, web marketers are scrambling to adjust.

“We monitor the analytics on our clients’ PPC campaigns like a hawk,” Carlitto said. “So when we detected a disproportionately large number of PPC charges coming from mobile devices earlier this year, we began an investigation.”

Platinum Web Marketing took to the streets to conduct real-time tests at some of the country’s highest-traffic intersections. In both Las Vegas and Manhattan, agency representatives were able to repeatedly access the same PPC ad — and ring up charges — just by walking as little as one block down the street, their devices automatically nabbing a new IP each time.

Platinum Web Marketing has determined while most pay-per-click advertising services have measures in place to prevent so-called click fraud, those efforts now appear to be largely ineffective against users on mobile devices. That’s because they rely on blocking IP-addresses to guard against multiple clicks from the same user. But people on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets frequently change locations as they travel. With each location, they receive new IP assignments from the nearest cell tower.

Because there is no way for PPC services to detect that a specific device has switched to a new IP, advertisers are vulnerable to recurring clicks from the same source.

“The monetary cost of those duplicate clicks can add up quickly,” says Anthony Carlitto, who heads up Platinum Web Marketing, a leading Las Vegas Internet marketing agency with offices throughout the United States. “This latest discovery has already fundamentally altered our approach to pay-per-click advertising. And I think it’s going to be a real wake up call to PPC advertisers everywhere.”

Platinum Web Marketing and it's clients pay nearly $400,000 a year in ad clicks to Google, Yahoo, and Bing — even with strategic measures in place to ensure the lowest possible cost per click. Carlitto says there’s simply too much money at risk. He can't ask clients to spend their internet marketing money on waste.

The company immediately halted all of its mobile PPC ad management campaigns. The agency will continue to create desktop/laptop-based ads using Google AdWords, Yahoo, and Bing. But mobile is a different story. “Until an effective solution emerges to guard against mobile click fraud,” Carlitto said, “we’re not going to let our clients waste one more penny on fraudulent clicks.”

PPC advertising was already quite-precarious. “PPC is only a good strategy to begin with if your budget and ad constraints are closely monitored and tightly controlled,” Carlitto explained. “It’s now clear that mobile fraud is not only imminently possible but also unpredictable. Mobile PPC is simply not a wise investment at this point. That calculus may change in the future, but our responsibility is always to make the most of our clients’ every ad dollar.”

Additionally, Platinum Web Marketing continues to provide a wide range of non-PPC Las Vegas Internet marketing services. Those include professional web design, search engine optimization, and inbound content marketing. Platinum will also continue its PPC management in Las Vegas and throughout the United States, now ensuring that clients’ money will not be wasted on redundant ad hits.

“The mobile audience is growing,” Carlitto says, “but there are more strategic and cost-effective ways to reach those users. We can put our expert web marketing techniques to work and target mobile users without resorting to unsecured mobile PPC.”

About Platinum Web Marketing
Founded in 1997, Platinum Web Marketing is one of the largest and fastest-growing Las Vegas Internet marketing agencies. With clients that include small businesses and larger enterprises around the globe, Platinum Web Marketing provides expert web design, search engine optimization (SEO), inbound content marketing, and PPC ad management services strategically designed to yield high ROI. In addition to its Las Vegas, NV headquarters, Platinum Web Marketing also offers locations serving Los Angeles, Manhattan in New York City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville and Orlando & Nationwide.